The Third Triad
by Sylveonimbus
Summary: Nate's crush on the presumed-dead Champion, Black, is getting out of hand. Hugh needs anger management classes (and preferably Nate). Rosa's seriously going to set fire to everything if her management bring her a new Love and Battles script. They have enough drama as it is without a revived-and-more-insane-than-ever Team Plasma. And then the ex-Champion comes back. What. The. Hell.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Nintendo or Pokémon, it would be a lot gayer. Pity.

**Pairings: **Eventual Nate/Hugh (probably...nah, you'll just have to wait for it), eventual Rosa/Curtis, _definitely_ Isshushipping and either Shiroshipping (Bianca/Touko) or Checkmateshipping (Cheren/Touko). Probably gonna be decided by a vote. They're not important until later, anyway. Also, Touko and Touya are the Monochrome Twins. I know, I know, very original.

**A/N: **This is basically the result of having the longest summer vacation of my life and still not getting anything done. All my thanks to Izzy for being an awesome help with the teams and for headcanoning with me at 3:39 in the morning.

* * *

**20th March, Virbank City, 8:12 p.m.**

_**So I'm breaking the habit, I'm breaking the habit tonight.**_

The pigtailed girl sitting at the corner table nearest to the door grimaces at the music blaring outside – probably a trailer of the newest movie. It makes for a pretty good description of the city she's currently in, in any case.

Her cross-transceiver is plugged into the socket nearby, and she glares at the random boy who comes close to it – probably an extra dawdling in the hope of catching a glimpse of a famous star – causing him to huff and stalk off.

Releasing a long-suffering sigh, she takes the call.

"Roserada, your father has requested your presence at dinner tonight, he has something important to tell you." Miss Louise is absolutely to-the-point, it's one thing she admires in her. Probably the only thing.

"And he couldn't tell me this himself, why?" she asks.

"He's at a screening, as you very well know. Dinner is scheduled at nine, as usual. You need to leave in fifteen minutes if you want to be suitably dressed for the restaurant."

She bites back any comments on Miss Louise' own taste in fashion and nods tersely. "I'll just need to talk to him about my results, today, then?"

"Of course." The screen cuts off, and Rosa jabs her fingers down on the button.

She really fucking hates Miss Louise. If only Nate or Hugh was there...

As if on cue, the cross-transceiver begins to ring again.

The screen blinks to life...and oh wow, looks like her boys are in the same place. Again.

"Let's see, you're at a totally innocent sleepover where you play Mario Kart, am I right?" She asks dryly.

The blue-haired boy blinks at her, and deadpans back: "You sound fucking miserable."

She snorts into the video feed. "Way to put it, Hugh."

"Please be sensitive to her feelings!" the brown-haired boy reprimands, leaning over his shoulder, unaware of the blush slowly suffusing the other's cheeks. "Did the movie release go well?"

"Dunno, I wasn't there. I'm sitting in the Pokémon Center for the time being, waiting for Dad to get prettied up a little more before we go eat." She stares longingly outside –where they're selling all the greasy food that she's not allowed to touch. "I suspect they're going to make me eat Kanto food today."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Kanto food – wait, did she put him up to this again?" the brunet asks, still leaning on Hugh.

She nods. "I'd suspect she's more than a PA...but we both know that Dad's...yeah."

"It runs in the family," the brunet chirps.

"Rosa's not gay." Hugh says, aiming a quizzical stare at him, bringing their faces into such close proximity that Rosa nearly squeals. Hugh promptly draws away, face redder than ever.

"I meant attracted to guys," the brunet explains, and Hugh looks...Not Impressed.

"Singular guy in your case?" he mutters, and Nate nods brightly. "Black is the coolest!"

_Way to break a moment, Nate._ Rosa rolls her eyes. "How did the results go?"

"Well," Nate looks nervous for a split second, and she almost believes the look, but there's a spark in his eye.

"Oh, for Mew's sake...we both passed first class, okay?" Hugh says, ignoring Nate's pout. "What about you, are you going to show them the results?"

Rosa wonders how she's going to break the news to them. "Uhm..."

There's a small commotion outside, and Rosa looks up and out of the window. Then she hears a girl's voice screaming.

"Is something wrong, Ro?" Nate says, but she doesn't look at the screen. Instead she stares at the terrified (vaguely familiar? but why?) blonde waving her hands wildly at the gutters. People are crowding around, but no one seems willing to help.

_That green beret…_

"Guys...I'm gonna talk to you later, okay?" She hangs up, ignoring the dual protests, unplugs her cross-transceiver (only 10% charge, how wonderful) and makes a beeline for the doors.

She doesn't even let it slide back gently as she dashes onto the street, narrowly remembering to watch for traffic. It's slow today, and she's able to get across easily. She maneuvers her way around the crowd, glaring at random people who scurry away when they recognize her, and comes to a stop in front of the familiar blonde with the signature beret. "Miss Bianca?"

The girl looks up, teary-eyed, before her eyes widen. "Um…Tou – no, how do you?"

"You're kind of famous where I'm from," she says shortly, and bends over at the edge of the street, where the gutters start. "Did something fall in?"

She snaps out of her daze, her worried expression coming back. "It's just, I was supposed to deliver some Pokémon – and the balls…"

She curses mentally. "All of them?"

Bianca shakes her head. "No – one, I'm, I think it was Snivy?"

Grass Pokémon. Frail starting grass Pokémon with a weakness to…poison.

"Shit. Did it happen here?"

"It hasn't even been a minute – I was thinking of going down into the gutters myself, but I don't know the entrance!"

Rosa swears, looks at the time on her cross-transceiver. It's eight-twenty – she should be able to get there in time…right?

"I know where they are – come on!"

* * *

**20****th**** March, Aspertia City, 8:21 p.m.**

"So. Last day of school tomorrow," Nate says, falling back on the bed with a soft thump. "Damn, I can't wait for us to finally get our Trainer Cards."

"I've got a bad feeling about Rosa not being here," Hugh says out of nowhere, tone pensive. Nate sits up and watches the spiky-haired boy frown down at his cross-transceiver.

"You're probably overthinking it. You know Mr. Hawthorne has that premier thing to go to, which is probably why she hasn't told him that she's got her trainer card yet."

"She received it in the mail three days ago, Nate – she'd need, what, five minutes of his time to do it?" Hugh narrows his eyes. "If that damn woman is making her stall, I'm going to give her a piece of my rage!"

Nate rolls over on his belly and stares up at Hugh with distracting chocolate eyes. "Stop thinking so hard about it. She'd tell us if she had trouble, right?"

"…right," Hugh says, putting it away and studiously avoiding those eyes. He turns to stare at Nate's Wii, turned off (and his own Wii will probably remain that way for a long time, because Irena isn't into gaming) and sighs. "We're leaving tomorrow –we've got enough to think about."

"Speaking of which – are you going to take the Gym challenge?" Nate props himself up on his elbows to look at Hugh better. "I mean, Aspertia has a Gym now, to coincide with the graduation date…so we could totally take it on! I mean, it's easier since we're in the same town, at least."

Hugh looks up at the ceiling. "I actually don't know."

"Why not? I mean, you could always train them for the Subway, or the musical, but you'd need well-trained Pokémon for that anyway, right? And they won't obey you without the badges," Nate points out.

_Why are you always right?_ Hugh glances at Nate. "It's about…remember the organization from two years ago?"

Nate's eyes light up like stars; and Hugh groans mentally. Of course he would remem-

"-ber, are you stupid or something." Nate actually sits, up, extremely excited. "Wait, do you mean to say that you believe that newspaper report?"

"Did you keep a clipping or something?" he says skeptically.

"Of course I did, they mentioned him, did you think I wouldn't?" He scrambles off the bed and goes across the attic room to rummage in his drawer. "It should be here somewhere…here!" He flourishes a neatly cut-out piece of the news edit from last week, and Hugh would have been impressed if he wasn't a little annoyed.

_It's always for __**him**__. Always._

"Anyway, so it says that there have been random disappearances of Pokémon more than usual, but less than the estimated amount from a few years back. People suspect fringe groups, but…"

"…the conspiracy theory is that Team Plasma is coming back to power," Hugh finishes. "I'm sure they have something to do with it, in any case."

"Didn't the Monochrome Twins catch all the Sages of Team Plasma, though?" Hugh's eye twitches at the name. "I suppose some of them were let out for probation…"

"No, only one of them was…there was also a Sage who escaped and everyone tried to cover up his disappearance." The blue-haired boy studies Nate's expression, and the brunet turns solemn in a few seconds. They all remember another disappearance around that time – one that had hit closer to home.

The Champion who had disappeared.

"You think he could be instigating all this?"

"No." Hugh startles himself with the comment. "There were…the main perpetrator was never caught – and neither was the other one."

"Hey, don't call the other Hero a perpetrator!"

"He was indirectly involved." It's best not to reason with Nate. Everyone is good in his eyes. Everything is simple. White.

He doesn't realize that people just don't change like that, Hero or not.

"In any case, it might be possible that Team Plasma is back…and it's also possible that I've used up my impossible scenario quota for the day." Nate snorts and falls back again, this time his head ending up half in Hugh's lap. "Gah, I need sleep. Can we nap 'til dinner?"

"Can't…Mom's going to flip if I don't have dinner today at mine, it'll be a long time before either of us can do that." Hugh tries to keep his thoughts pure, but whispers that say _Nate's head is currently in your lap and you're telling him to get off?!_ keep resurfacing at the back of his mind.

_Ha. Get off._

_Shut UP, brain._

"Mmkay. Stay a little while, then?"

They could always journey together, he muses. Maybe he'll ask him tomorrow.

"As you wish," he says, voice gentle.

"Sounds familiar." Nate says, snuggling up closer, but is apparently too sleepy to figure out where it's from. Hugh thanks all the Legendaries he knows for it. Hopefully he won't remember it in the morning.

He looks up from his lap and stares at the paper in his hand, the one he'd grabbed from Nate. It shows an open shelter, clearly meant for abused Pokémon, and several broken cages. His blood boils, remembering his sister's crying face.

He couldn't do anything at all, back then. And then a hero – the Hero, had gotten a chance, and tried to finish them, and evidently failed. It wasn't even bitterness arising from Nate's hero-worship – more than anything else, it was a bone-deep anger. Why else would he let the other Hero leave? Why else would he abandon his own region?

Hugh wasn't going to be that guy.

"If this is Team Plasma's fault…they're going to understand what true fear means."

Meanwhile, Nate mumbles out Black's name in his sleep, and Hugh sighs.

* * *

**20th March, Plasma Frigate, 8:51 p.m.**

"Scientists have noticed the temperature drops, you know."

"Those Deerling fools?" The man in the purple robe laughs. "I talked to them when I was in Driftveil. They're worthless – who's going to believe _them?_"

"But, sir." The Plasma grunt attending to them shifts on his feet nervously. "They say – there's been sightings of the Hero on Twist Mountain."

"We do not speak of him," the Sage hisses at him. The grunt cowers and nods. "Yes – sir."

"But isn't that his plan in the end, Zinzolin?" The man on the video feed smiles. "After all, how will we know the true potential of Pokémon if we do not figure in one of the variables?"

"The other one's dead, you do know that right?" Zinzolin remains unimpressed.

"That's the popular information, I've heard. One does tend to lose track of the news during research."

"Well, just remember that we'll have only once chance to draw them out, and we're pretty sure that it's going to be –" Zinzolin spits the next word – "that _traitor_. So please keep that in mind."

"One must consider all the possibilities," the blond man on the screen says cheerfully. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Dwebble to investigate. Fascinating creatures." The video feed cuts off, and Zinzolin shakes his head.

"All this talk about that dead Trainer is giving me the chills. Ugh. Never going into that Cold Storage again, thank god it blew up," he mutters, much to the confusion of the other two grunts in the room. He glares at them when he finds them staring. "You're new, aren't you? Bless your fates that you are."

They gulp and say nothing. Zinzolin turns to the first one. "You. Don't bring up the traitor's name in my presence. And if you mention him in front of Ghetsis – you might as well bid your life goodbye."

He stalks away, robes billowing behind him, and the grunt quietly stammers to himself – "B–but it wasn't _him_ I was talking about…"

* * *

**20th March, Twist Mountain A, 9:30 p.m.**

Exactly one timezone away, a hero's eyes open to a storm brewing on the mountainside.

"Come on, Mynx." The Chinchilla Pokémon hops onto her Trainer's shoulder, cropped brown hair whipping her gray ears with the force of the wind. "We've got to find a different shelter."

"Cinnn?"

"You can call him an asshole when we find him, promise."

"Cin." It seems satisfied, and the Trainer brushes off brown shoes and stained jeans and stands up, adjusting the old cap and staring down the cliff.

"Where the hell _are_ you, dude?"

* * *

**No, Rosa and Nate are not related. It's a running joke that they're twins in this verse, because they look like Touya and Touko. **

**Reviews and any questions are appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Warnings:** Cheren had a crush on Touya, as is evident in this chapter. Pairings remain the same, except that Curtis comes much later in the story so I decided to focus on the Isshushipping aspect and change the pairings in the tags. Onesided Nate/Touya, onesided Cheren/Touya, eventual Hugh/Nate, eventual Rosa/Curtis, Isshushipping, and eventual Cheren/? (I'm not sure yet, so I'm leaving it blank for the moment).

Also, if you _really_ want to know what Nate dreams about in this chapter, go check out the oneshot I posted earlier.

**A/N: **This chapter took me wayyy too much time to write. Probably because I have college exams in less than a month, ugh. Updates will be slow, but you can bet on me updating, because no way am I abandoning this.

* * *

**20****th**** March, Virbank Sewers, 8:27 p.m.**

Rosa runs down the last bit of stairs and helps Bianca stumble down, thanking all the Legendaries for the fact that she isn't wearing heels.

"She can't have gotten far, right?" Bianca mutters to herself, and Rosa nods in what she hopes is a reassuring manner. These sewers don't have random Pokémon, for one thing, except for the occasional Basculin who seem to thrive in any kind of water (and who could swallow a poisoned, weakened Snivy in one gulp).

"Snyyyy!"

There's a Snivy in front of her, and it's hurrying with some relief towards Bianca. At least it's safe.

That's when a stray Zubat sweeps down and flashes past them. In hindsight, it wasn't really something the Zubat could have controlled but...

The startled Snivy falls into the water, and Bianca shrieks.

Rosa decides that she really, really hates Zubats.

"Vee!" A Basculin is swimming rapidly towards it as it clings with tiny paws to the side of the sewers.

"When we get out of here, I'm getting Dad to order us deep-fried Basculin," she says viciously, and runs towards the grass starter.

* * *

**21****st**** March, Aspertia City Gym and Trainer School, Class A, 8:30 a.m.**

"Fuck you too!"

The other boy staggers back from where the brunet pushed him, and opens his mouth to speak. Everyone winces, and one of the other boys actually stands up to stop them.

"What's going on in here?" The stern voice that breaks up the altercation is unfamiliar. The teacher enters the room, glaring at the two boys near his desk.

"That's the new Gym Leader!" one of the girls hisses at the boy next to her.

The teacher looks from one of them to the other. "Is it really proper to argue on the last day of the semester? I could have your Trainer Cards confiscated for this kind of behavior."

The boys fall silent.

Whispers break out all across the class room as they leave, ordered out by the teacher, who follows them. Some of them are debating how strict he's going to be as a Gym leader, the others, the ones who aren't new to the way the school works...they're the more confused ones. A redheaded girl and a purple-headed boy debate about it heatedly, and the rest of the class follows their conversation.

At least, until the newbie butts in.

"His girlfriend isn't going to be pleased," one of the newer transfers, a pretty strawberry blond, says, flipping her hair. "Think he'll look at the other girls now?"

"...what." The boy, who was theorizing about their disappearance, deadpans.

"The girl with the really big hair? She was supposed to leave on a Trainer journey with them, right?" The transferee twirls a long lock of her hair in thought. "She's pretty cute though."

"D'ya mean Rosa?" the redhead says, her tone a little amused. "She ain't little Nate's girlfriend."

"Oh my god, can you imagine," the purple-headed boy from earlier snorts. "We'd never survive the _Rage_."

"Like the Dragon-type move?" The girl sounds horribly confused, and they decide to put her out of her misery.

"No, that's Outrage – and we mean the Hugh move. Although the guy would totally be a Gyarados, now that I think about it."

"Oooh, and Nate likes to go swimming, doesn't he?" Several girls start to giggle, and the boy looks faintly nauseated. "I didn't need that image in my head."

The redhead slaps his arm. "...dude, focus."

"Yeah. So, in any case – sorry if she got your hopes up by saying Rosa's not dating him – Nate's taken. Though he doesn't know it."

The girl sputters. "There's someone else?"

The redhead looks significantly at her new classmate, and then at the rest. "There's always been someone else."

_Nate just doesn't know who it is,_ is what remains unsaid.

* * *

**21****st**** March, Aspertia City Gym and Trainer School, Detention Hall, 8:35 a.m.**

"Imagine my surprise," the new teacher says dryly, "when I checked your Cards and found you were registered as the new Pokédex holders. What exactly was the reason for your exemplary behaviour in class?" Eyes flit from him to Hugh. He looks slightly uncomfortable, and Nate has no idea why. If anything, he's always a little terrified of sarcastic people because he's always afraid that he's going to mess up and they'll make fun of him and Hugh would get terribly, terribly angry…

…Hugh _is_ kind of terribly, terribly angry with him now.

He doesn't even know how they started fighting.

Actually, scratch that, he does.

"I'm sorry, sir." Hugh says, face blank. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"It had better not," the teacher warns. "Or I'll be seeing Aurea Juniper about taking on different Pokédex holders. If you can't cooperate in class, there's a high chance you'll fail miserably at doing so out there in the real world." He straightens his tie, glances one more time at Hugh and then Nate. "I'm going outside for a while – you coincidentally took me away from my Gym duties."

He's the new Gym Leader? They pissed off a Gym Leader? Rosa is going to kill them, Nate thinks frantically. Then again, he never argues with Hugh, that's usually Rosa, but – _really, spectacular timing, Nathan Fray_, he thinks.

"You can have it," he finally whispers. "The Oshawott, I mean."

Hugh looks at him for a second, and shakes his head. "That's not the problem here."

"Do you _want_ me to have the Oshawott then?"

"That's not the problem either." He turns to Nate and fixes him with one of those stone-cold glares that scare him a little. "That starter is going to be your partner – and I think you should choose your partner for yourself, not for what someone else would think about it."

Nate flinches at his tone and looks away, biting his lip. Hugh doesn't say anything and goes back to staring out of the window.

Was it really wrong? Wanting to have a Pokémon just because your idol had the same one? He could even swim with it and everything.

It's a matter of principle, Hugh had said – and what was wrong with honoring his hero? He remembers Hugh's cutting words just from ten minutes ago.

"_I'm not going to stand for you picking a poor Pokémon just because you daydream about a dead Champion!"_

Nate flushes deeply, remembering the dream he had last night, and clamps his mouth shut before he can say anything else. Hugh knows how touchy he is about this subject…why would he?

"I'm sorry too." Hugh doesn't look at him. "For saying he's dead."

_You just said it again._ Nate smiles a strained smile at him. "It's okay."

Hugh has his reasons. It's probably about the Purrloin again. Nate wouldn't know – he's never had a Pokémon before. He doesn't know the level of attachment one can have to them. At least he can find out, now.

They're okay. They can pull through anything. That's what best friends are about.

* * *

**21****st**** March, Aspertia City Gym and Trainer School, Staff Room Corridor, 8:38 a.m.**

**-cheren-**

I'm too busy reeling at the similarities to really pay any more attention as I wait outside for Professor Juniper's assistant. They aren't speaking to each other – the tension in the room is palpable and he…

He looks so much like Touya.

The other boy, the one with the spiky blue hair, sits in stony silence even as the brunet fidgets and sends a sidelong look at him.

They even behave like us – no, wrong comparison. They behave like _them_, there was never an _us_, not really. If I close my eyes I can almost picture a green-haired man on the bench, with warm amber eyes looking up at him hopefully.

I hate it. It's too much like that last time we had seen them together.

They had been together, of course. No one could really pinpoint when it started, but I had reason to believe that Touya had been head over heels for that fucking android ever since he'd set eyes on him.

I sound bitter, don't I? You would be too, in my place.

I can't picture anything but the look on Touya's face on the day he dissolved Team Plasma when I try to think of something else, anything else.

He hadn't said anything then, but anyone –anyone could look at them and tell anyway. I had to look away. I didn't want to – I knew that I'd lost my chance, knew it back in Opelucid when Touya had refused to face Bianca when she asked where he had been in the rain out at night and came back with teeth-marks on his collarbone and tears across his jacket, back in Icirrus when I had told him he was digging his own grave and he had _laughed_ at me like he knew that already. In Mistralton, when he had cried and told me that he didn't deserve me, back in Driftveil when he had shivered away from my touch for the first time in the Cold Storage, when we were in Nimbasa City and Touya had stared at the Pikachu statue while we had our picnic on the grass, refusing to answer Touko's question, when we were in Castelia and neither of them would tell me what had happened, back in Nacrene when he had barely noticed my existence at the museum…

…back in Accumula Town, the day we had started our journey and when a green-haired man broke out of the crowd and demanded to hear the voice of Touya's Pokémon.

I was wrong, wasn't I? I never had a chance. Not with the stupid predestined pair crap in the way.

No- that wasn't it either. Touya loved N Harmonia like I had never, ever seen anyone love someone else before.

He had brushed his cheek, and Touya had clasped his hands, gently smiling when he flinched. _It's okay._

_I know._ He'd stepped back, and Touya…

…Touya watched him go with a smile, letting his hands fall back and letting the green-haired boy climb onto Reshiram's back, and let go. He didn't turn until he had disappeared into the distance, protected by Zekrom's natural armor from the tail-flames Reshiram emitted as it went. He didn't say a word – there was silence in that cavern after Ghetsis had been subdued and carried away. I had stepped forward hesitantly, Bianca and Touko beside me. "Touya?"

And Touya, Trainer Black, Champion of Unova, had turned amber eyes to us, and his tears finally spilled over. "I'm fine."

I had never…ever… felt worse about being right about something than I did at that moment.

I hate N Harmonia. I hated him with a passion for getting Touya when none of us could come close to even understanding him. But I had never, ever hated him more as when he left.

I snap out of my reverie when I saw someone stop in front of me. It's one of the Gym Trainers who had introduced herself to me earlier today. "Mr Kanazawa? Professor Juniper called to say that someone called Bianca was already nearing Aspertia City but she accidentally left her cross-transceiver at the Pokémon Center in Floccesy Town, so she would be waiting for the boys at the Aspertia ledge because it's a recognizable landmark – Mr Kanazawa?"

I shake my head, lips twisting in slight disbelief. Bianca? Bianca, who I haven't spoken to in over a year? She's the Professor's new assistant?

I need a drink. "I'm – I'll send the boys over."

* * *

**21****st**** March, Aspertia City Ledge, 8:45 a.m.**

She smiles at the song that starts playing on her iPod, hands going to her pocket as she remembers how much Touya had loved it when it first came out two years ago.

_**If you had a minute why don't we go? Talk about it somewhere only we know?**_

Her hand automatically goes to her wrist, where her cross-transceiver should have been, and she sighs as she remember that she left it plugged in at the last town. At least Nurse Joy had been kind enough to tell her it was safe when she called her from the Pokémon Center here.

She twirls the bracelet on her other hand, feeling the cool metal of the charms on it. One from Touko – a miniature musical prop. One from Cheren – a Poké Ball. One from Touya, which she hadn't understood the significance of at the time but loved anyway – a picture of the four of them together inside a heart. A new one, from Rosa – a little flower clip.

Bianca adjusts her cap, an age-old habit she had thought she'd gotten over. It must be the nostalgia – first Pokémon journeys and all. She remembers the first step they took together on Route 1.

She thinks of the two little Pokémon sitting in her case, and the new Snivy Professor Juniper had sent over at the Center, just in case.

She thinks of the rescued Snivy and thinks that Touko would be proud.

Bianca isn't a very religious person, contrary to popular belief. Unova isn't as deep-rooted in legendary tales as is Sinnoh or Johto. The legendary beasts of Unova are revered as Protectors, not gods.

She thinks of the other two legendary beasts and tries not to cry, and fails.

Her thin hands grip the railing tightly, letting the tears fall. Perhaps – no, he is out there, he has to be. They both have to be. Touko, too.

She wipes her face with a sleeve, and looks up at the mountains in the distance. Beyond those hills is Anville Town, where Touko had started searching first.

When Touya gets back, Bianca swears she's going to hit him herself.

There are rapid steps coming up and stopping behind her. Bianca startles a little, her hand going up to adjust her glasses (Cheren's glasses, she thinks, and grins) and turns to the two boys. They look even younger than the three of them were two years ago.

_There are still people out there who have dreams, Touya. I wish you could see that._

_No – that's wrong. You went chasing your dream, didn't you?_

"It's so nice to meet you!" she says, and smiles a real smile, eyes crinkling up.

* * *

**Reviews are appreciated! (Also, yes, the bit about Rosa will be elaborated upon later, promise.)**


End file.
